Is Solinsky the best US runner to never make the Olympic team?

No I no longer run the 400. It's too pointless. I powerlift. The 400 makes you a weaker human because it causes too much lactic acid buildup within the human body thus reducing overall muscle mass thus making you weaker.

Not only that but anything over 100 meters all out prohibits protein synthesis within the muscle fibers which then in return make the muscle smaller and weaker.

There's no point in doing anything over 100 for overall health.

Sprints increase testosterone naturally and make you a stronger human.

I now only run the 100 and below.

Typical LR distance runner answers...

How about Dominique Arnold? Broke the American Record in the 110s in 2006 at 12.90 (he was actually under the old WR as well, but finished just behind Liu Xiang who set a new WR in that race), world ranked 4 years (twice top five), World Indoor bronze medallist, 4th at 05 World Champs, etc, etc...

Even just strictly going off of time, he's the obvious answer. 2nd fastest ALL TIME at the time (what was Solinsky?) and still the fifth fastest man ever (how about Solinsky?).

No comparison.

Ackley wrote:

Consider this.... wrote:

This is the undisputedly correct answer. End of thread.

Khannouchi was already a World Record holder when he became an American Citizen. (I think this distinguishes him from guys like Meb, Salazar, Lomong, who are also naturalized citizens but came up through the U.S. system.) Also, as noted above, he never ran at the US Trials at his peak.

Nenow was a top runner for a long time. When he set his AR, it was the third fastest 10,000 of all time. His 1984 and 1988 Olympic Trials misses were heartbreaking.

Khannouchi had the record when he became a citizen, but he also set a new world record after becoming a US citizen. Also, I'm pretty sure he moved to the US in the early '90s and did all of his running of significance while living here. He gets my vote.

Famous Moroccan dopers:

Mo Trafeh

Amine Laalou

Abderrahime Bouramdane

Mariem Alaoui Selsouli

Abderrahim Goumri

Other high profile Moroccan athletes

Mekhissi-Benabbad - The steepler that punched a mascot

Iguider

Morceli - One of the fastest all time at a time when EPO wasn't tested

El Guerrouj - Fastest all time when drug testing wasn't a thing

Khannouchi - WR in 2002 when testing was minuscule

Is questioning Khannouchi fair?

It seems the list is down to Solinsky, Joe Falcon, and Khannouchi and I think there's plenty of reason to question Khannouchi with the history of Moroccan doping. His WR was as an American but look at Mo Trafeh. He was America and continued to dope in Morocco.

Forrest Gump?

Dean Karnazes?

track400meters1 wrote:

No I no longer run the 400. It's too pointless. I powerlift. The 400 makes you a weaker human because it causes too much lactic acid buildup within the human body thus reducing overall muscle mass thus making you weaker.

Not only that but anything over 100 meters all out prohibits protein synthesis within the muscle fibers which then in return make the muscle smaller and weaker.

There's no point in doing anything over 100 for overall health.

Sprints increase testosterone naturally and make you a stronger human.

I now only run the 100 and below.

Your understanding of lactic acid is off base. I MIGHT have accepted Cortisol, but even then you'd be stretching.

Have fun being wrong about all the rest of that, too. Batman would be disappointed.

asdfadf wrote:

Famous Moroccan dopers:

Mo Trafeh

Amine Laalou

Abderrahime Bouramdane

Mariem Alaoui Selsouli

Abderrahim Goumri

Other high profile Moroccan athletes

Mekhissi-Benabbad - The steepler that punched a mascot

Iguider

Morceli - One of the fastest all time at a time when EPO wasn't tested

El Guerrouj - Fastest all time when drug testing wasn't a thing

Khannouchi - WR in 2002 when testing was minuscule

Is questioning Khannouchi fair?

It seems the list is down to Solinsky, Joe Falcon, and Khannouchi and I think there's plenty of reason to question Khannouchi with the history of Moroccan doping. His WR was as an American but look at Mo Trafeh. He was America and continued to dope in Morocco.

You're lumping Khannouchi with a huge group of suspicious individuals simply because he's Moroccan.

Khannouchi arrived in the US in 1992 when he was ~21, and wasn't even relevant on the distance running scene until about 5 years later. When he set his World Record in London (US record as well when doing so), he had become a citizen and had been living here for 10 years.

Unlike many of the other runners you mentioned, Khannouchi was pretty far removed from doping groups/culture. Yes, there's reason to suspect many Moroccan runners since many of them have been caught in the past, Morocco itself is has minimal testing, and there are many groups with ingrained doping cultures. However, besides being born there, Khannouchi barely even has any association with the country at all. His "training group" never had a doping violation, his coach was his wife, who was a US citizen from the Dominican Republic, and as far as I'm aware, he lived and did his training entirely in New York after coming to the US. Early in his marathon career, I recall there was even some controversy where New Yorkers were upset that Khannouchi debuted in Chicago instead of NY.

Khannouchi lived entirely in the US, trained entirely in the US, married a US citizen, and was coached by a US citizen who has never had a single accusation of being associated with doping practices, unless you count people on Letsrun accusing Khannouchi of doping. Contrast this with any of the actual Moroccans who live in the country with the shady groups there, or guys like Trafeh who live here but still returned to Morocco to train.

Consider this.... wrote:

Real AR Thonster wrote:

Khalid Kannochi

This is the undisputedly correct answer. End of thread.

The ONLY POSSIBLE correct answers to the question are:

'Yes'

'No'

'Maybe'

and

'I don't know'

Somehow I don't see 'Khalid Kannochi' on that list.

asdfadf wrote:

Famous Moroccan dopers:

Mo Trafeh

Amine Laalou

Abderrahime Bouramdane

Mariem Alaoui Selsouli

Abderrahim Goumri

Other high profile Moroccan athletes

Mekhissi-Benabbad - The steepler that punched a mascot

Iguider

Morceli - One of the fastest all time at a time when EPO wasn't tested

El Guerrouj - Fastest all time when drug testing wasn't a thing

Khannouchi - WR in 2002 when testing was minuscule

Is questioning Khannouchi fair?

It seems the list is down to Solinsky, Joe Falcon, and Khannouchi and I think there's plenty of reason to question Khannouchi with the history of Moroccan doping. His WR was as an American but look at Mo Trafeh. He was America and continued to dope in Morocco.

Morceli is Algerian.

Ackley wrote:

No. A similar thread pops up every couple of months. The correct answer is Mark Nenow.

(I don't count Khannouchi because his single - and valiant effort - to make the Team was a comeback effort when he was past his prime and undertrained.)

That was my first thought. There are some marathoners like Dick Beardsley and Greg Meyer that get a mention. And at 800m Kersh ran 1:44.00, ranked 2nd , and didn't make any olympic teams.

Seyta good post. Didn't know much about Khannouchi's training group. Good to know and not fair to lump him in with the others I listed.

track400meters1 wrote:

No I no longer run the 400. It's too pointless. I powerlift. The 400 makes you a weaker human because it causes too much lactic acid buildup within the human body thus reducing overall muscle mass thus making you weaker.

Not only that but anything over 100 meters all out prohibits protein synthesis within the muscle fibers which then in return make the muscle smaller and weaker.

There's no point in doing anything over 100 for overall health.

Sprints increase testosterone naturally and make you a stronger human.

I now only run the 100 and below.

I'm curious what your PR progression is in the 100.

I disagree that most people peak at 37 to 41. I do agree though with your contention that people should be able to keep improving into their 30s. I'd set the age range more like 30 to 36 though, and it would depend on the individual.

I think we "physically peak" in our early to mid 20s, but cumulative training effects continue to outweigh our physical plateau or decline until that age range I suggested.

This is a good post but didn't KK not become a citizen until 2000? I thought he missed the trials that year because his paperwork and citizenship ceremony wasn't until after the trials. He then ran Edmonton in 2001 but dropped out. I was only 12 though when Sydney happened so I could be wrong.

Yes, good synopsis on KK. But didn't he win a low level championship in the 5000m? I want to say at the World University games or something similar. Then at some point he was passed over by the MOC and came to the US. Worked as a dishwasher while doing high level training. Lived in Ossining, NY, trained in Rockefeller State Park. Didn't he also let others stay in his house and train with him?

If I recall, he also turned down a spot on the Moroccan Oly team so he can have a shot at the US team. Truly underappreciated in the US.

I say yes.

But, I would also say that a guy like Greg Meyer is in the top-10 to top-5....

As I recall, Khannouchi was a citizen in time for the '00 OT Trials. But in the lead up it wasn't clear that was going to be the case and so he said that he was going to pass on the Trials and aim his training toward Chicago.

SolinskyQ wrote:

In 2008 he was 4th in the 5k at the OT in a close finish after teammate Matt Tegenkamp ditched their plan to share the lead and hung Solinsky out to dry.

How dare you sully Teg's name.

Come on guys. I was pretty good.

I'd say Christina (née Chris) Lukezic is probably the best US runner to never make the team. Just my opinion.